Hi, everyone! Welcome to another book review! Today I’m bringing you Red Queen, an amazing book series by the very talented Victoria Aveyard! To tell you my personal experience and interest on this book, I need to tell you how I finally purchased it after eyeing it and having it on my amazon cart for about 7 months. First things first, I sometimes go on Amazon and have a quick browse and just add several titles to my wishlist. I do this so that when I’m ending a book, I can easily grab 2 or 3 more. I also do this just for the pleasure of shopping, even if I’m not actually buying it! So, a few months back, I really wanted to read a trilogy. I mean, something more than just the one book. I love them, I live them, but then they’re over, and my life feels over for a few days or weeks, depending on how much I connected to the story. I wanted something more. Longer. And I wanted something maybe a little mystical – vampires, werewolves, why not. (hey! don’t judge… I love my Vampire Diaries, Originals, The Strain, Twilight… oh, 50 shades… yep!) I saw the Red Queen, read this little summary (here):

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THIS IS A WORLD DIVIDED BY BLOOD – RED OR SILVER.

The Reds are commoners, ruled by a Silver elite in possession of god-like superpowers. And to Mare Barrow, a seventeen-year-old Red girl from the poverty-stricken Stilts, it seems like nothing will ever change.

That is, until she finds herself working in the Silver Palace. Here, surrounded by the people she hates the most, Mare discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy the balance of power.

Fearful of Mare’s potential, the Silvers hide her in plain view, declaring her a long-lost Silver princess, now engaged to a Silver prince. Despite knowing that one misstep would mean her death, Mare works silently to help the Red Guard, a militant resistance group, and bring down the Silver regime.

But this is a world of betrayal and lies, and Mare has entered a dangerous dance – Reds against Silvers, prince against prince, and Mare against her own heart…

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…and I added it to my cart. Not my wishlist, actually to my cart. You know, this is the kind of book that requires a map! *excitement rolls in* I can tell you, I finished this 1st book in 3 afternoons. I got it over the holidays, not on Amazon – shocking, right? – when L and I were waiting for our connecting flight in Lisbon (long story short, lost a flight because of the airline, then they put us on a later flight; ended up waiting for 6 hours), I was bored, decided to go to FNAC and buy a book. Saw Red Queen and thought to myself, hell, this might be destiny, *bought it*. And the rest is history. Literally. So I’d love to share with you lovely bunch a little bit about this first book.

We enter the world of Silvers and Reds, power and slavery in a world of war and innocents. We meet Mare Barrow, a Red girl who’s only 17. She lives with her family in a village called the Stilts and they’re poor. Just like any other Red. She feels like she has no purpose nor special ability in life, so she’s made her peace with going to the war when she turns 18, just like any other Red. She has a sister who’s an apprentice, therefore she won’t have to join the war. The same goes for Mare’s best friend, Killorn, who’s an apprentice fisherman. We get to know their lives, the Stilts and a little about the Silver monarchy. But of course, this being a fantasy book, Mare is different. And we find out she’s different in a special moment of the book that will set the journey for the next 2. I dare say even the next 3 (the last book is being released this May!!!)

Red Queen is about finding your way in a world of evil, in a world that we live in. It is about overcoming your “status” and uniting as one force. Mare will have to find strength within her to fight against many of the demons that will come her way. She’ll find more about herself than she’d ever hoped for but she’ll also lose herself. And that’s the beauty of this series. We forget that Mare is 17 (18 later) and that she’s carrying on her shoulders the hope of thousands. We want her to fight more, to fight harder, but I found myself forgetting her age. I think this is especially interesting to realise because Victoria herself said in an interview that she wrote this series based on true events from the world she lives in. And being very analytic now, maybe we’ve all been putting too much hope in younger generations, hoping that they will change the world.

This 1st book has romance, lies, deception, betrayal, fire, nymphs, electricity, … it has it all. If you’re looking for your next addiction, this might be it. It is overpowering and delightful. You will not put it down til you’ve finished it! Let me know if you’ve read any other series like this one! I’m on the look for a new one while I wait for the 4th and last book to come out!